By Nick Romeo — Reporter
With the cancellation of sports for the foreseeable future, we’ve been robbed of some juicy storylines that haven’t played out because of coronavirus.
Seasons have been put on hold, and playoff runs that could’ve been are left to be imagined.
Here are some great storylines that we may never see because of COVID-19.
Lebron James leads his third team to a title
When the NBA season came to a screeching halt, Lebron James had his Los Angeles Lakers were in first place in the Western Conference.
The Clippers were picked as the favorites to come out of the West before the season started. However, James’ Lakers were coming off a recent win against the Clippers on March 8, and they looked more than capable of handling Kawhi Leonard and Paul George come playoff time.
Unfortunately for all basketball fans, at 35 years old, one has to wonder how much James has left in the tank. He’s quickly approaching the age where the inevitable decline could take hold at any moment.
Who knows how many elite seasons James has left. This could have been his best chance to win one last title, and we may never get to see it.
The Houston Astros Beanball Year
Just like many baseball fans around the country, I too was enraged to hear about the Houston Astros and their cheating during the 2017 season that ended in a World Series title.
Their hollow apologies and lack of contrition was enough to make smoke come out of my ears and make me look like Daffy Duck who had been fooled by Bugs Bunny once again.
As opening day approached and teams played spring training games, the anticipation of what the Astros would face at the hands of their opponents mounted.
We all knew the players would do something to self-police the game and deliver punishment on the Astros that MLB apparently couldn’t do.
With opening day looming just around the corner, the Astros were saved by the bell.
I still believe that whenever the season does start, the Astros will eventually be targeted by opposing pitchers. However, the talk surrounding the scandal has mostly died down.
The boiling emotions have cooled, and one has to wonder if the Astros will be met with the same seething anger that they were bound to face had then season started on time.
Ovechkin Catches the Great One
This one wasn’t going to happen this year, but it may impact the ability for this storyline to take place down the road.
Let me explain.
Alexander Ovechkin is the greatest goal scorer of his generation, and one of the most dominant athletes in the world since he broke into the NHL in 2005. During that time, he has amassed 706 career goals in 15 seasons, which places him No. 8 all-time.
At this point, he’s led the NHL in goals eight times, and won the league MVP three times, among many other accolades and accomplishments.
No one ahead of him on the list has played in the 21st Century. His time in the game has been an era of low scoring games, yet he finds himself among the most prolific scorers who played in the most prolific scoring eras.
Like Lebron James, Ovechkin has been consistently great his entire career. He’s 34 years old, and who knows how much longer Ovechkin can keep this pace up. Before COVID-19, he was no guarantee to catch Wayne Gretzky’s record of 894 career goals.
But this is the Ovechkin we’re talking about. If there was anyone who could defy father time long enough to score 189 goals at the end of his career, it would be Ovechkin.
As I said earlier, he was going to be cutting it close. With 13 games left and 5-10 goals to likely be scored by Ovechkin during that time, that might be enough to keep him from that record.
Mark my words, if the NHL season doesn’t resume, and Ovechkin falls 5-10 goals short of the record, the Covid-19 stoppage will be blamed.
Follow Nick on Twitter @nromeo12